A study of US and EU health data protections in the Journal of Science & Technology Law concluded Americans “have no real control over the collection of sensitive medical information if they want to be treated.”

Wow! It’s great to see legal scholars second the message that Americans’ rights to health privacy were eliminated.

You can see the article on the study in The Epoch Times here, written by Mary Silver.

For years, Patient Privacy Rights and the bipartisan Coalition for Patient Privacy were the lone voices carrying this message to Congress and the public.

Public and expert support to restore control over sensitive health data will only build. Soon, no one will buy the argument that privacy is an obstacle to electronic health systems.

Here are some other key quotes from the story:

“EU countries have adopted electronic health records and systems, or EHRs, and legally protected privacy at the same time.”

“The 1950 Council of Europe Convention identified individual privacy as a fundamental value”

“the good aspects of EHRs can be undermined by the bad consequences of poor privacy practices and the ugly effects of inadequate security”

“patient privacy is much better protected in Europe”

“European patients are able to encapsulate particularly sensitive medical information, and an individual has far greater access to and control over his records in Europe than in America.”

So, again why is the US government rushing to spend $29 billion on health IT systems that offer neither privacy nor security?